Texas says its public school enrollment surged by nearly 20 percent in a decade, enough to officially top 5 million as of the 2012-2013 academic year.
A report released Tuesday by the Texas Education Agency found that total enrollment for 2012-2013, the most-current figures available, exceeded 5.07 million. It grew by 820,019 students, or 19 percent, during the previous 10 years alone.
Between 1987-1988 and 2012-2013, meanwhile, enrollment grew 57.4 percent, or about 1.85 million students.
In 2012-2013, the student body was 51.3 percent Hispanic, 30 percent white, nearly 13 percent black and 3.6 percent Asian.
The number of students participating in bilingual or English as a Second Language programs increased by 268,538 or 46.9 percent between 2002-2003 and 2012-2013.
Also, 60.3 percent of students were economically disadvantaged in 2012-2013.
